Raiders Get Bats Going, Thump St. Francis

Jess Wilkes’ mother, Helen, likes to make headbands for her daughter to wear when she pitches.

Wilkes donned a sparkling silver headband as she stood on the mound for the Raiders’ non-conference matchup at St. Francis on Saturday. But not for long.

One of the umpires concluded that her headband was a uniform infraction, and informed her that she couldn’t wear it.

“He (the umpire) said it was like (having) a disco ball on my head,” Wilkes said, smiling.

and her Raider teammates, however, ended up getting the last laugh, recording a 7-1 victory over the Spartans.

Wilkes rebounded after surrendering a first-inning home run to Laura Behnke and scattered three additional hits the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the Raiders’ bats came alive over the last two innings as they plated five runs, including a four-spot in the seventh after two outs.

“I think our bats were a little slow in the early innings,” Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. “I kept telling them that if we can score runs with two outs, we’re going to be a team to be reckoned with and win a lot of ballgames. They believe that every at-bat they can hit the ball, and just because we have two outs doesn’t mean that we’re going to give up.”

Jess Wittenberg doubled to start the four-run seventh. Danielle Chitkowski and Jane Trzaska also followed with run-scoring doubles. After Olivia Ramirez walked, Jackie Wrona delivered a two-run double.

Chitkowski broke a 1-1 tie and drove in what proved to be the game-deciding run in the fourth when she doubled into the right-center field gap to plate Wittenberg, who had singled to open the inning.   

Wilkes helped herself in the sixth as she drove Trzaska in from third on a groundout to make it 3-1. The Eastern Michigan recruit struck out four and retired 13 in a row at one point from the second into the sixth inning.

“When they got runners on base I got a little nervous,” she said. “I always focus on pitching, but they’re (Wilkes’ teammates) so good that I know if they get a hit, it’s not going to matter.”

The Raiders (12-2) pounded Metro Suburban foe Timothy Christian twice (16-0 on Monday and 11-0 on Thursday) and Burlington Central on Friday (11-1), but it was nip-and-tuck with the Spartans through five innings.

Glenbard South and St. Francis may meet again during the postseason since both teams are in the St. Francis Sectional complex.

“I assume they’re going to be a top four seed with us and the sectional is hosted here (at St. Francis),” said Fonda of the 13-4 Spartans. “They’ll be in a regional probably opposite of us, and either in the sectional semi-final or the sectional championship we would probably meet.”